Property owners express concern over Airbnb rentals

Monique Muise, THE GAZETTE08.08.2014

Manon Letarte Pettas, outside the building she owns on St-Laurent Blvd., got a surprise last weekend when she discovered a rowdy group of people partying on one of the balconies after one of her tenants rented the unit through the Airbnb website.

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MONTREAL - Short-term rental websites like Airbnb have prompted warnings from Quebec's tourism ministry in recent years due to the illegality of certain listings, but now it's property owners who are going public with their concerns about the popular service.

Landlord Manon Letarte Pettas said it’s impossible to ensure the safety and tranquility of her multi-unit building on St-Laurent Blvd. if her tenants are renting out their units to complete strangers via the web.

“I want this (practice) out of Montreal. It’s not safe,” Letarte Pettas said Thursday. “As a landlord, you’re supposed to ensure the enjoyment of the premises. That’s very important. Everybody has to feel comfortable in the space.”

Letarte Pettas, who is landlord to more than two dozen people, got a nasty surprise last weekend when she and her husband showed up at their property to discover a rowdy group of young people partying on one of the balconies.

“My husband intercepted one of them who had jumped the fence and was peeing in the yard. ... They said the tenant wasn’t there and they rented the apartment on Airbnb.”

The unit in question is rented out by Letarte Pettas for $1,440 a month, but a quick Internet search revealed that the Airbnb listing was for $170 a night with a two-night minimum. A month of Airbnb guests in the apartment would therefore net the regular female tenant $4,400 — potentially tax-free if she did not declare the rental as part of her income at the end of year.

“At that point, I didn’t even know what Airbnb was,” Letarte Pettas recalled. “We were so astonished.”

The tenant finally responded to her landlord’s repeated emails this week, explaining that she is in France and dealing with family issues. She removed the listing after being threatened with possible eviction. Her rent for August was paid on time.

“I find it terrifying,” Letarte Pettas said of the experience. “(Airbnb guests) could break anything, they could burn down the building ... bring bedbugs, anything. We worked so hard on this investment.”

She is not alone in those fears. Simone Nichol, a co-owner in a housing cooperative in Ville-Marie, recently contacted The Gazette with a similar story.

“Currently out of 16 apartments, five are being used illegally as short-term rental ... (and) our insurance policy does not accept short-term rentals,” Nichols said in an email. “If a fire happened here, our insurance would not cover our losses.”

She could not be reached for further comment on Thursday.

Many of the thousands of Airbnb rentals in Montreal and the surrounding regions are illegal under provincial law — even if the renter owns the property. Anybody renting out accommodations for less than 31 days is required to obtain a $250 permit from la Corporation de l’industrie touristique du Québec. Renters must also be covered by civil liability insurance, and must pay a host tax to Revenue Quebec. Anyone failing to meet these criteria faces fines ranging from $750 to $6,750.

A special advisory committee was formed in January to try to find a solution, but Quebec’s Landlords’ Association is already taking a hard line on the issue, saying responsible landlords like Letarte Pettas deserve better.

“We have rent-control units in Quebec. So landlords rent a unit at a very low price and then (the tenant) makes money by sub-renting in a way that would be totally illegal for (the landlord),” said association president Martin Messier. “We think it’s nonsense. I would like the government to police those websites and to make sure that anyone who advertises has the proper license to do so.”

Landlords can file a complaint to the rental board for lease cancellation, eviction and damages if they discover that a tenant is misusing the property, Messier added, but it’s a long process.

“It can be many months before there is a hearing, and in that time landlords can suffer damages if other tenants complain and decide not to renew their lease. You could end up with a building where all the good tenants have left.”

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